Greek Governance

The Greek Community at Alfred State is governed by Greek Senate, a student-led organization comprised of representatives from individual Greek chapters with a shared vision and common goals that reflect the community’s ideals and values. The goal of Greek Senate is to uphold the four pillars of Greek life: Scholarship, Service, Leadership, Brotherhood and Sisterhood.

The Four Pillars

Scholarship

Alfred State Greeks are first and foremost committed to academics. In order to begin the pledging process, a student is required to have a 2.0 cumulative and previous semester GPA. Each organization has an Academic Intervention Plan, to create a culture of academic success while establishing incentives for scholastic excellence. With the support of the Greek Senate Academic Chair, every chapter works to develop study, test taking, and time management skills in its members.

Service

The Alfred State Greek Community prides itself on giving back to the college and the surrounding communities. Greek Senate coordinates several philanthropic and community service events, and each chapter has its own standard for community service within the organization. In the 2016-17 academic year, Greek organizations contributed over 8,600 hours of service to the local community. Annually, Greeks lead the campus in community engagement, by contributing time, energy, and fundraising efforts at events like New Student Move-In, the American Cancer Society’s Relay For Life, and Alfred’s annual Hot Dog Day community celebration. Greek organizations also organize opportunities for all students to make a difference, through the Red Cross campus blood drives and the Take Back the Night rally to raise awareness about domestic violence.

Leadership

Involvement in Greek Life at Alfred State offers an unparalleled opportunity for leadership development. Each chapter has several officer-level positions and opportunities for members to demonstrate initiative and responsibility. In addition to the leadership roles within Greek organizations, Greeks participate in a campus-wide Leadership Retreat in the fall semester to identify and strengthen individual leadership styles while fostering a positive dynamic in the Greek Community overall.

Brotherhood and Sisterhood

Alfred State Greeks are a family. Alumni and active members get together several times a year for important events such as initiation each semester, Greek Alumni Weekend in the fall, and Hot Dog Day in the spring. Chapters also collaborate to host mixers, socials, and all-Greek recruitment events throughout the year. Each year, members of Greek Senate honor a Greek Man and Greek Woman of the Year, based on votes from all of the chapters.

Greek Life Policies

Given the standards of success associated with fulfilling the four pillars of Greek life, the college has a strict policy regarding pledging Greek fraternities and sororities. Please note the following:

First-semester students may not rush and/or pledge any fraternity or sorority. To be eligible to pledge, students must have a prior college semester (removed from high school) and cumulative GPA of 2.00 or higher.

Transfer students must bring a minimum of 12 credit hours from their previous institution to be eligible for first semester pledging.

Part of determining eligibility includes a status check and a consultative process with faculty to insure academic success with the transition to Greek Life.

Directives, Procedures and Expectations

In May 2016, members of the college administration and representatives of the Greek Community and Advisory Board updated a relationship statement from 2008, capturing the expectations for Greek Life at Alfred State. The Directives, Procedures and Expectation policy has central themes of the relationship agreement of 2008, identifying scholarship, leadership, philanthropy, and brotherhood/sisterhood as the core components of Greek life at Alfred State. In order to assess the effectiveness of Greek organizations in attaining the mutually agreed standards, a rubric-based tool to measure attainment was developed in 2009 and refined in 2016. This data is collected annually from all Greek organizations and scored by the college administration.